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Random Thought
Limp Bizkit released a new album this week (reviewed in the music section below) and it got me thinking about a strange time in my past… I’m talking about my Limp Bizkit phase. I had one. I’m not super proud. And this isn’t to throw the band under the bus but how I decided to show my fandom was ridiculous. I actually bought a red Yankees hat. I had a job and I spent money on that. I probably could’ve bought more beer but nope, I had to have the same dumb hat that Fred Durst had. I feel silly and icky just typing it out. And again, this isn’t an anti-Durst rant. I just don’t think anyone should be that tacky when it comes to showing their fandom. I went over the line.
I don’t know what came over me. There was something about their music and my life and it was a perfect combo and it only could’ve worked at that moment in time (circa 1999-ish). I was like 19 or 20 and mad at stuff. What was I mad at? What in the world bothered me so much in 1999 that I could connect to the song, ‘Break Stuff?’ I had a job and lived with my mom still which meant all my income was disposable. 9/11 was still just the date the Dude wrote on his check in the beginning of, ‘The Big Lebowski.’ This probably should’ve been the most carefree time of my life and I decided to be angry.
My need to just be angry in general in hindsight seems ridiculous and if you go back and listen to Limp Bizkit, they didn’t have any real good reason to be angry either. I guess maybe the ex’s and the haters and your boss was enough to fuel all your anger 22 years ago, but in comparison to life now, that sounds like a vacation. So I guess it sorta makes sense, we were all angry for not-very-good reasons and that was enough for us and enough for Limp Bizkit to find themselves the darlings of MTV and all other pop culture gate keepers of the time.
Looking back, Limp Bizkit, and a lot of that nu-metal stuff almost feels like hair metal like maybe I should be embarrassed for being so into it. But at least the hair metal people were having fun. It was like we were purposely just trying to be angry and ragey all the time and not have fun. That’s kinda lame. Hair metal > nu-metal.
Anyways, I say this with all the wisdom of a 41 year old who looks back on his youth and wonders why he was ever mad at all and I’m sure 61 year old me will wonder the same about 41 year old me now. Why do we act the way we act? Maybe some of it is predestined. 19 year old dudes be raging. It’s just the way it is. It’s almost as if we can’t choose the bands who will act as the soundtrack to it. They’re just there waiting for you like Fred and company were in 1999. I was mad at the world for no good reason and I just needed someone to make that seem normal and for that, I’ll always owe a debt of gratitude to Limp Bizkit and the red Yankee hat army no matter how silly it all seems in hindsight.
We did it all for the Nookie.
Movie I Watched Recently
The Rocker
(Prime)
This movie is ridiculous and silly and if you’re okay with that, then you’re gonna have a good time. Rainn Wilson kinda shines as a washed up, middle-aged rocker who was in a successful rock band at one time. He ends up joining his nephew’s band and things start happening. It’s like a cheesier, ‘School of Rock.’
Stud alert.
TV show I’m currently watching
In the Dark
(Netflix)
For any long time readers of the JWW, you might remember me talking about this show many moons ago. I binged through the first 2 seasons and had to wait for the third one and now the waiting is over.
When the second season ended, although I found myself wrapped up in the story, I had to admit to myself that the plot had gotten ridiculous. Things escalate real quick and at the very end there, when it looked like there’d be a clean resolution, everything blew up in their face all because Murphy’s boyfriend works for the IRS and he’s a total narc when he finds out the shenanigans Murphy and her friends are into.
So everything blows up for the gang and they find themselves on the run. It’s a lot of cat and mouse and it’s good fun. Still ridiculous but fun nonetheless.
Murphy’s IRS ex-boyfriend’s name is Josh by the way and even though we share the same name, he is easily my least favorite character in all this show. He narcs on his ex-girlfriend because she did what she had to do to save her and her friends’ lives when they got mixed up with a drug cartel. He then loses his job with the IRS and commits to ruining Murphy’s life by partnering up with a cop to chase her down even though he’s not a cop and unemployed. Get a hobby my dude.
Obligatory promo pic.
Album of the Week
STILL SUCKS / Limp Bizkit
They’re back! I say they’re back as if they’ve been gone for 20 years but they’ve had a few releases over the past couple decades, I just wasn’t paying attention. So here it is, my first foray to listening to a complete Limp Bizkit album in over 20 years. Kinda impressive to think about (or maybe not and I need to recalibrate my measurements for “impressive”).
Anyways, here’s the thing, I was ready to lambaste this album. Let ‘em have it. Let everyone know what a joke I think this whole thing is. But y’know what, this album is actually pretty good. I found myself kinda enjoying it actually. I’m not gonna dust off the red Yankee hat and start putting their old stuff back into my heavy rotation, but I can tell you that this is not a bad album and mean it.
At one point Fred says he’s the king of nu-metal (or this nu-metal shit or however Fred Durst would choose to make such a proclamation) and I think he’s right. I don’t know if I’d even wanna be the king of such a thing, but if that’s who you are, you gotta own it. I don’t know who’s more fitting for the role. It’s not Chad Kroeger from Nickelback because he’d probably die trying to convince you his band isn’t nu-metal, they’re pure rock and roll. At least Limp Bizkit has the self awareness to know who they are and own that shit.
This album is entertaining and doesn’t take itself too serious. Fred seems more like an agitated dad than an angry-at-nothing youth these days and maybe it’s my age showing, but I connect with that. Will me and Fred always be connected like this as we age together? Life was already strange. I never could’ve foreseen myself typing out words defending the honor of a new Limp Bizkit album in the year 2021.
Cool album cover too.
Book I’m Currently Reading
White Line Fever: The Autobiography / Lemmy Kilmister, Janiss Garz
I’m about half way through and so far it’s pretty good. It’s very conversational. It’s written as if the author recorded what Lemmy was saying and then just transcribed it which makes sense to me. Lemmy’s story feels like a story that should come in the same diction as a legend at a bar telling you a story as you slug down beers together.
Maybe the problem with Lemmy is I already know too much about him. I’ve watched a few docs and heard/read tons of stories in magazines and on websites over the years. The book just sorta confirms what I already knew. Lemmy was a hardcore, rock and roll motherfucker. It’s fun to hear it from his voice though and you hear his voice in your head as your reading.
I love Lemmy’s take on, ‘Ace of Spades.’ He was sick and tired of it and he wanted people to know there was so much other good Motorhead music out there. That being said, he played it live every single show because he knew that’s what people wanted to hear. I think bands should play the hits when you see them live but I also get why a band would be tired of their hits. I think this is one of those topics where it’s okay to be both ways about it. You don’t have to like the song anymore but if it brings joy to other people, then how cool is that? Sometimes you gotta give the people what they want. And then play a few b-sides or that new song you’re trying to push.
Google image Lemmy results is better than anyone’s Instagram.
Random sports thought of the week
The Braves won the World Series which is good news because that means baseball is over. The season is way too long and their offseason is way too short. I don’t understand how when pitchers and catchers report to training camp in like 2-3 months, people get excited. It feels like it just ended. How can I ever miss baseball if it feels like it never goes away? Baseball is the prog rock of sports. It’s long and boring and everyone who likes it is a dork.
Random pro wrestling thought of the week
NXT 2.0 almost completely feels like WWE developmental now. I mean, I guess that’s what it’s supposed to be. But it’s lost all it’s renegade brand luster. There was a time where NXT felt like it’s own thing, a popular promotion with it’s own personality. There was a solid 3-4 year run when NXT was the best wrestling on TV (or the streams technically). That is completely gone now. There’s a few solid segments but a lot of it looks like trial by fire, young wrestlers learning as they go, and a lot of silly shit to get them prepped for if/when they hit the main roster where silly will almost be impossible to escape. It is what it is. NXT came from FCW which was purely developmental, never supposed to be its own thing that could contend with everything else in the pro wrestling world and it feels like it’s gone back to that. NXT was super dope and my favorite thing in wrestling but that’s all gone now.
If I could fantasy book just one thing, I think it would be the following: Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano both leave NXT/WWE and before they end up at some other promotion, run their own PPV. Put a bunch of indie wrestlers on the undercard but main event themselves, maybe an ironman match. Just one more time on their own terms. Ciampa/Gargano is the greatest story told in wrestling in maybe the past 10+ years. It deserves a final blowout of epic proportions.
I hope these dudes read my newsletter.
Weekly Top 5 List: Top 5 Limp Bizkit Songs
1- Counterfeit
2- Faith
3- N 2 Gether Now
4- Nobody Like You
5- Break Stuff
Weekly Quote
“To walk around with an ego is a bad thing. To have confidence in yourself is a great thing.”
-Fred Durst
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